Strength: Will or Heart?
by jylener22
Summary: An unnamed warrior. A tender-hearted Master. Together, they must find a way to work as a team to fulfill their quest...to win the Holy Grail War. Others seek to do the same, but with both of them harboring opposing views on how to deal with their enemies, will they be able to succeed? Based loosely on the Fate/Stay Night or Fate/Zero series. Commission story for sailorn1 on dA.
1. Summoning

"Well, we've done as much as we possibly can. Now it's up to you. Are you ready?"

"I think so…Are you sure-"

"Orihime, you can't start second-guessing yourself now. All your life, we've been training and preparing you for this moment. If you can't summon the will and courage to do this, there is no one else who can do it for you. You know what that means don't you."

"…Yes, I understand."

"Then let's get started. Tessai, the relics, if you please."

"Here."

"Thank you. Just place this here and…we are ready for the summoning. Orihime, if you will…"

"…I hereby propose, thou shalt come under my command and thy sword shall control my fate. Abiding by the summons of the Holy Grail, if thou dost accede to this will and reason, answer me. I hereby swear, I am all that is good in the eternal world. I am the disposer of evil in the eternal world. Thou, clad with the Great Trinity, come forth from the circle of constraint…Guardian of the Heavens!"

Nothing happened for about fifteen seconds. Just when the gathering was about to give up, there was a resounding crash from the adjoining room. Flinching at the sound, everyone turned to rush into the other room with Orihime at the forefront. When she opened the door and scanned the room hastily, her eyes quickly found those of a young man standing about in the center of the room.

He wore long black robes that covered him entirely from the neck down. They were even long enough to drag along the floor behind him so that his feet were hidden from sight. Wrapped around his wrist and reaching his elbows was a kind of silver interlocking pattern that was also used to decorate the edges of the pitch black cloth.

Orihime only took in the appearance of the young man's clothes in her peripheral vision as she was mostly occupied with looking at his face. Even more specifically, his eyes.

His hair was long for a guy, but not long enough to really pull back in a ponytail. The bright orange locks were shaggy in a wind-swept way, yet did not give off the idea that it was unkempt or dirty. His dark brown eyes met Orihime's and they were fierce. If she had never met a natural born warrior before then, she certainly knew that one stood before her now.

When he spoke, Orihime jumped in surprise even though his voice was low and even.

"I ask you, are you my master?"

Too stunned to do anything at first, Orihime just stood there with her mouth slightly agape until someone nudged her gently in the back. Taking two steps forward, Orihime clutched at her clothes, wrung her hands and flicked her eyes nervously between the floor and his eyes while trying to keep the blood from rushing too quickly in her body. Either it was going to go rushing to make her face blush, or pool down in her feet so that she would pass out…both situations were equally undesirable.

Finally finding her voice, Orihime said hesitantly while simultaneously allowing her hair to fall in front of her face and pushing it out of the way, "Umm…yes…yes, I am…"

He didn't respond at first, but scanned her from head to toe. Not in a 'let-me-check-this-woman-out' sort of way, but more as if he were assessing whether or not she was a worthy master for him. In that respect, Orihime almost wished that it was the former.

Seeming to come to a conclusion in his own mind, he asked curtly but not unkindly, "Your name?"

"Ori-" she cleared her throat to keep her voice from cracking, "My name is Orihime Inoue."

Taking another few moments to let that information sink in, eventually, he inclined his head and said rather formally, "And you may call me Saber, Ms. Inoue."

"No."

Looking at her with a scowl, Saber repeated slowly, "No?"

Waving her hands desperately in front of her, Orihime said hastily, "I only meant that you don't have to call me 'Ms. Inoue'. Just use my first name…if that's all right."

It seemed for a time that Saber was going to argue, but eventually he shook his head and said, "Very well then. Orihime it is."

When he said her name, Orihime mentally scolded her heart for skipping a beat as she went on, "We have a room prepared for you to use if you care to get some rest."

"I see," said Saber thoughtfully before he added, "I trust that my room is adjacent to yours in some way."

"I…well…why…" said Orihime helplessly while part of her mind was wondering why in the world he would ask such a thing, another part trying to remind herself to act natural while the rest really wouldn't mind if he was nearby in the middle of the night.

Letting out a long-suffering sigh, Saber answered coolly, "To protect you, of course. This isn't the first Holy Grail War that I've participated in…" suddenly struck with a thought, Saber asked, "You do know what you've gotten yourself into, don't you?"

"Of course I do!" stammered Orihime desperately, "Mr. Urahara and Tessai and Yoruichi and everyone else has been helping me to train to be a master ever since I was twelve!"

Quirking an eyebrow at her, Saber said flatly, "If I'm not mistaken, most people start training potential Holy Grail candidates from the time they can speak and can learn incantations."

"Well I…that is to say…I just…" said Orihime helplessly before she finally got frustrated and declared, "I didn't start training until I was twelve because I lived with my brother, but then he died and Mr. Urahara took me in and discovered that I had the potential to participate in the Holy Grail War, so yes, I had a lot of catching up to do, but I'm grateful everyone was so patient with me and were so willing to help me, so I want to do this for them! They gave me strength when I needed it, so now I want to do the same for them."

Saber's eyebrows had raised so that they were hidden by his long bangs, until Orihime came to her final statement. With those words, Saber's original warrior expression returned. While Orihime couldn't tell, she thought that something she had said had made some sort of impact on Saber…why it had though, Orihime was curious about.

Taking a few steps forward so that Orihime had to tilt her head back to look him in the eye, Saber said solemnly, "You will need my strength and support to reach your goal. Yet I cannot exist in this world without taking strength from you."

Drawing his sword and placing the point in the floor, Saber went on, "From this day on until you have won the Holy Grail War or I die in service to you, I swear on my sword that I will serve you faithfully and will protect you at all costs. My word as a warrior is binding."

Returning Saber's gaze steadily, Orihime said instinctually, "I accept your pledge gratefully, Saber. I promise to do my best to be a master you will be proud to serve."

As Orihime finished and continued looking into Saber's eyes, she couldn't help but wonder. Who was he, really? How had he acquired that look of absolute confidence in his own skill as a warrior? What had he been through in his lifetime? She wanted to know more about him, not so that she could utilize him as a servant, but so that she could get to know him.

Kisuke and Tessai exchanged a look as they observed Orihime's growing fascination with her servant. For the time being, they would simply let things progress and observe. However, they were prepared to intervene should the need arise. It would not be the first time that a master in the Holy Grail War had become romantically attached to their servant…however, those attachments never ended well.

**Authors' Note:**

*long sigh* I couldn't do it. I intended to just do this story in the last chapter of Ichihime Week, but I just couldn't do it. It's at least going to be 3-4 more chapters on top of this one...and I could just kick myself because now I've added another story to my workload. And there's still about two or three more that I'm longing to get to but won't until I pare down my 'incompleted stories' list.

Anyway, like it says in the description, this is very, very, very, very loosely based on the Fate/Stay Night or Fate/Zero series. If you're not familiar with either one, I will do my best to give more in-depth information inside the chapters, but since it's also a series that I'm not extremely familiar with, to be on the safe side, just ask me specific questions on things you're confused on and I'll do my best to point you in the right direction.

Also, for this first chapter, I just copied and pasted what I had already written for the 'Strength' chapter in Ichihime Week 2, so while I always appreciate reviews, if you've already written something to me over there, please don't feel obligated to do so again. I completely understand.

My hope is to finish off the last of Ichihime Week 2 today and hopefully write a little more for this, then spend the next day or so getting Hearts of Glass finished off as well. So much to do...and Orihime's birthday is coming up...oh dear.

Just an fyi, while I may come off as extremely self-deprecating at times, I really do enjoy writing these kind of stories. If I didn't, then I wouldn't do it. Isn't that the way it is with anything? :)


	2. Training

Orihime could only remember a handful of times when she had ever had trouble sleeping. Now she could add one more time to her list.

Part of her brain was keeping her awake thinking about how in the next room a handsome swordsman was resting and yet on the alert should some other Master and Servant pair try to attack in the night. She was also eyeing a door that she could open and walk straight into the adjoining room where Saber rested…and she knew that the door was unlocked.

Actually, at any time and for any reason, Saber might just open the door and walk into her room. Then he would see her in bed…in her nightclothes…she thumped herself on the forehead for even starting to think along those lines. If Saber did come into her room, likely it would either be for her protection if they were attacked or…no, there was no other possibility. She had summoned Saber and now they were a team and their goal was to acquire the Holy Grail. That's why he was here and she had to remind herself of this fact.

On the other hand, those initial impressions and feelings she had gotten when she had first beheld Saber made her more than slightly curious about him. Sometimes in the Holy Grail War the identities of different Servants had been discovered. Staring up at her ceiling, Orihime started listing off historical figures who might fit with Saber's personality.

Hannibal? Maybe, but his dress and coloring didn't strike her as particularly Roman. Well, technically Carthaginian, but Roman was close enough. He was also better known as a conqueror and not a swordsman. Charlemagne, perhaps? He was a swordsman and great leader…but he also used two swords. Maybe William Marshal…or maybe not.

Turning over on her side, Orihime let out a long sigh. This was getting her nowhere and she realized that she shouldn't try so hard to figure out Saber's identity. When a Servant's identity was discovered, other competitors would be able to use that information to their advantage as they could then research about the Servant's past life and discover ways of defeating them. She'd rather live the rest of her life wondering who Saber actually was then regret not leaving well enough alone.

Closing her eyes, Orihime willed herself to fall asleep. Morning was fast approaching and with it came the start of her new training regimen. That was something she really wouldn't mind spending the rest of her life not knowing.

* * *

The next morning began much as Orihime had expected it to. Get up before the crack of dawn? Check. Barely getting enough time to eat breakfast politely so having to resort to atrocious table manners? Check. Spend the entire meal trying not to look over at a certain swordsman? Check. Somehow manage to let on that she doesn't have much in the way of magical skills outside of summoning Saber? Check.

"What can you do, then?" asked Saber in an even tone, "Do you have any offensive or defensive skills at all?"

"She's pretty lethal in the kitchen!" Jinta yelled from the side of the training grounds before Yoruichi roughly cuffed the back of his head, to which he yelped, "Ow! But it's true!"

"What does he mean by that?" inquired Saber.

"I…um…well, it's hard to explain…" said Orihime as he fought valiantly to keep her blood and tears in check.

Tessai had pity on her and said by way of explanation, "Orihime is a girl of great imagination and invention when it comes to cooking or baking. She is so talented that she knows by sight and smell when something is perfectly cooked. She's never let meat go dry or undercooked bread or anything like that."

Quirking an eyebrow at the man, Saber said, "And that's really something she needs in a fight. The ability to roast a perfect mutton chop."

Looking completely crestfallen for a moment, Tessai brightened up a moment later as he declared, "But those skills also make her an excellent healer! She can cure illnesses and set broken bones and everything else besides."

"That is slightly more helpful," admitted Saber, "but that's only something she can do after the fact. I can only do so much to protect her."

Seeming to think of something else, Saber looked at Orihime and said flatly, "You do know how to control your magical energy, right?"

Finally summoning up the courage to look Saber in the eye, Orihime said confidently, "Of course," and then she went on with false bravado, "and I'm also willing to work hard to improve on my offensive and difference skills."

While Orihime couldn't be sure, she thought for just a second that the corners of Saber's mouth softened ever so slightly and his brown, serious eyes sparked with an emotion like amusement. It took her breath away momentarily and just when she was about to say something else, Saber's usual expression was firmly back in place. Whatever she had done just then, she wanted to find a way to do it again so that she could see what his smile looked like.

"All right then," said Saber, "Let's get started."

And so began a morning of arduous training. Orihime refused to allow any words other than 'Yes Sir' or 'Please let me do it again' or 'Please show me how to do it again' to pass her lips, but there were times when she wanted to simply say 'I am tired, sore, hungry, thirsty and I'm just not getting it, so I want to quit right now'. However, the moment the thought entered her head, she immediately pushed it away because she thought about Saber himself.

While Orihime could sense that there were times when Saber became increasingly frustrated with her painfully slow progress, he nevertheless told her in an even tone to try it again. From what Orihime could guess, Saber's skills with the sword not only came from constant practice, but also from some sort of innate ability to pick up on things quickly. As he worked with her, she sensed that he was keeping himself in check as he reminded himself that she was not like him in the respect.

At one point, Saber asked Orihime to practice a certain offensive move on him. They were using wooden weapons and he wanted her to duck under his arm and hit him in what would be a vital spot.

"But won't that hurt you?" asked Orihime in a shocked tone.

"Not really," replied Saber, "but if we were using real weapons, it would be a fatal or incapacitating blow. I just told you that."

"But what if I do it wrong and seriously hurt you?"

He searched her face for a while as if trying to determine whether she was serious or not and then said, "Just come at me and put all your strength into the blow."

Looking down at the weapon in her hands, Orihime forced herself to grip the weapon and rush forward. As Saber had taught her, she watched his feet and went with him as he attempted a feint. Moving to the left, Orihime ducked his swing and lunged forward with her knife pointing at Saber's ribcage…and then she made her mistake. She looked up.

Orihime's eyes connected with Saber's and she thought about what she was about to do. She was about to hurt him. Those deep brown eyes were about to darken in pain because of the blow she was about to jab into his ribcage. And if she had a real weapon she might…she might…

Dropping the blade, Orihime slipped under Saber's outstretched arm. As she used her momentum to turn around and face Saber, she suddenly felt an immense force slam into her spine and send her painfully crashing to earth. When she finally regained her breath and was able to turn to look over her shoulder, she saw Saber looking down at her with a fierce scowl.

"Do you have any idea what you've just done?" snapped Saber as his patience finally reached its limit, "You've thrown away a golden opportunity to take your enemy down and instead allowed them to completely annihilate you! What were you thinking?!"

"I couldn't do it," said Orihime softly, "I couldn't hurt you."

"What are you talking about?!" said Saber in an exasperated tone, "I just told you we're using wooden weapons. There's no way you could have seriously wounded me. The worst I would have gotten was a small bruise."

"Exactly."

"What do you mean 'exactly'? You mean you'd rather get killed rather than protecting yourself?"

Pushing herself painfully to her feet, Orihime fought back tears of shame, pain and frustration as she answered, "Like Tessai told you before, my skills lie in the healing arts. Why would I want to inflict pain when my greatest desire is to take it away whenever I see it?"

Rubbing his eyes, Saber said, "In a perfect world, there wouldn't need to be fighting or strife. We could all live happily in the clouds and eat sweets all the time without having to worry about cavities."

Locking gazes with Orihime, Saber went on, "Unfortunately, that's not the kind of world this is. There is darkness and evil and both are ruthless, especially within this Holy Grail War."

"I know that," said Orihime evenly, "I've seen for myself some of the cruel things that can happen to good people."

"If you know that," asked Saber, "then why did you summon me in the first place? How do you expect to win the Holy Grail if you won't fight?"

"I will protect those I care about," said Orihime in a low tone, "no matter the cost."

"I understand that," replied Saber, "but how do you expect to do that? You need to fight to protect those you care about and the other Masters and Servants in this war aren't going to have the same principals as you. When they fight, they fight to kill."

"Just because you have the ability to kill someone," answered Orihime, "doesn't mean you have the authority to decide who lives and who dies."

"Hey!" called Yoruichi from the house, "Anyone hungry? Jinta, Ururu and I made some lunch!"

Stepping in between the Master and Servant pair who were still looking at each other, Kisuke said breezily, "That sounds like a grand idea! Nothing like a good lunch after a hard morning's training."

As the pair made their way silently towards the house, Kisuke and Tessai exchanged worried looks. This time, they were concerned that Orihime and her Servant would find themselves at odds with one another. It went without saying that such a situation was highly undesirable as it might be the wedge to drive them apart and get them both killed.

**Author's Note:**

Don't want to say much at this point other than I hoped you liked it!


	3. Fighting: 1

Orihime was never entirely sure exactly what woke her up. Later on, she would try to recall a dream she had been having just before she awoke, but only the vaguest bits and pieces remained. The most she could remember was think it likely had something to do with her burning a cake in the kitchen, but when she opened the oven, the cake had expanded to the extent that it was touching the walls of the oven and that's why it was burning. Even stranger than that was the fact that an image had been burned onto the cake's front in the shape of a person's face. Then, as she was about to try and extract the cake, she felt someone pull her away from the oven.

And that's when she woke up.

At the time, Orihime's sleep-fogged brain was slow to pick up on the urgency of the situation she was in right away, but she immediately knew that what had happened in her dream and what was happening at the moment were connected. She knew that because she had been dragged from bed and onto the floor.

In a slightly cracked voice, Orihime asked, "Yoruichi? What's-"

"No time, Orihime," interrupted Yoruichi with her eyes darting around, "Just follow me."

Before Orihime could nod in agreement, Yoruichi started crawling across the floor. While Orihime thought it was extremely odd for Yoruichi to be doing something so juvenile, nevertheless, Orihime docilely followed the woman's lead and stayed on all fours.

They crawled around the bed and then towards the wall. For a few moments, Orihime considered asking Yoruichi exactly what they were doing because running into a wall was even sillier than crawling at this point. However, Yoruichi stood up about two feet before she reached the wall and it was then that Orihime realized that Yoruichi's goal had been to approach the window, since she was now opening it.

Once again following Yoruichi's example, Orihime stood up to join the woman at the now open window (which Yoruichi had done while wrapping her hands in the curtains for some reason). As soon as the night air hit Orihime's face, it worked like a splash of cold water to the face and cleared the fog, or in this case smoke, from Orihime's brain. In reaction to the fear and smoke, Orihime looked over at Yoruichi as the true nature of their situation became clear.

Feeling a hand at her back, Orihime followed Yoruichi's prompting and heard the woman say, "Jump now," which Orihime did without question or hesitation.

Was she frightened? Of course she was. Was there anything below besides ground to break her fall? Orihime had no idea. But she trusted Yoruichi and knew that while she might have cuts bruises and possibly a broken bone or two, this jump would not badly injure her. And even if it did by some freak accident, Orihime knew that Yoruichi would not have told her to jump had there been any other safer option.

As her feet left the window ledge, Orihime just managed to hear Yoruichi yell, "Flip over!" and again, Orihime obeyed.

Orihime's active imagination only had enough time to imagine five possible ways of how her fall would be broken and all of them were wrong. It was a simple matter of Tessai catching her in his big arms and then jogging quickly away from the house. Craning her neck as far as she could, Orihime saw that when the two of them were clear, Yoruichi leaped out of the window feet first and did a kind of roll when she reached the ground so that when her feet next touched earth, she could run after them.

The next moment, Orihime realized Tessai had said something and asked, "Pardon me?"

"Everyone is safe," repeated Tessai, which caused Orihime to release a rush of air she hadn't realized she had been bottling up in anxiety. However, the tension in her body immediately returned when she heard strong metallic sounds coming from the side of the house.

Clutching Tessai's shirt front, Orihime said hastily, "Let me down, please."

Tessai's answer was to slow his pace and then stop before hesitating slightly and finally setting her feet on the ground. Orihime only paused long enough to give him a grateful half-smile before turning and taking off in the direction of the sounds of fighting. In spite of the fact that she was barefoot and the ground was rough, rocky, gravelly and in some places slick from dew, Orihime ignored the discomfort and pain, charging ahead with a determined light in her eye. There was also a touch of fear, but that came from her anxiety over her Servant and just what kind of foe he may be facing alone right now.

Rounding the corner, Orihime's eyes quickly scanned the scene in front of her. Everything was as she had anticipated except for one major detail. The opponent himself.

While Orihime knew her imagination could sometimes get the best of her, this instance had to take the cake...pun slightly intended. However, what concerned Orihime the most was how exactly it had happened. It had just been a dream…hadn't it? But apparently her dreams were bleeding into reality in more ways than one.

The man who was fighting Ichigo had the exact same face as the image that had been burned onto the cake in her dream. The next moment, Orihime's eyes connected with his and her skin began to crawl as a smile spread over his face.

"Well, well, well," he cackled, "Quite a looker you have there as your Master. Man, do I envy you."

Not normally a self-conscious person, Orihime now wished that she had woken up far sooner, if only so that she could have grabbed something to cover herself. The best she could do was cross her arms over her chest and hope for the best.

Apparently, that was exactly what she should not have done because the man's eyes widened and they glinted as he leered and said, "Oh yeah, baby. You stay right there looking pretty and after I've finished with this guy we'll have ourselves a real good time." Orihime may have been innocent, but she was not naïve as to what exactly this lecher was referring to just then.

Rather to her surprise, Saber clashed weapons with the guy hard enough to send him flying back several feet. On top of that, she was fairly certain she had heard Saber growl in rage as he did so.

Instead of backing down, this just seemed to amuse the opponent as he said, "Touched a nerve there, didn't I? What? Don't tell me you haven't thought the same things?"

Viciously slashing at the guy's head, Saber ground out, "She's my Master. And even if she wasn't, she's not that kind of woman and I'm certainly not that kind of man."

"Oh brother," groaned the man as he knocked aside Saber's blade, "another honorable, chivalrous bor. Just my luck."

As the two kept fighting, Orihime finally had the presence of mind to quit worrying about her state of dress and assess the situation at hand. If she had to guess, Saber's opponent was likely a Lancer. It wasn't out of the realm of possibility that he could be an Assassin due to the fact that he had set fire to the house, but Servants in that class weren't usually this good in sword-fighting. They only fought one-on-one when they had to fight someone who was about to catch them. Also, because he was fighting with something that looked like a cross between a spear, broadsword and club, it gave a pretty good indication what class of Servant he was.

Turning her attention away from the fight, Orihime's eyes scanned the surrounding area. The Master of this Servant had to be somewhere nearby in order to supply the Servant with enough magical energy to fight. Unfortunately, the house was bordered by a forest which the Master could easily conceal themselves in and Orihime knew that it would be very unwise for her to search among the trees alone like this.

Just as she began adjusting her arms to try and protect more of herself, Orihime's spine tingled ominously. Reacting instinctively, Orihime threw herself to the ground just as an object came whistling by. When it thudded into the ground, Orihime saw that it was an arrow.

This was bad. Apparently Lancer and his Master were not the only ones who decided to show up tonight. From the angle at which it had landed, Orihime concluded that the Archer and their Master were also hiding behind the tree line.

Orihime's brain went into high gear as she reassessed the situation. She couldn't take cover anywhere near the house, so the trees were her only option. However, she had no idea where Lancer's Master was, so she'd be running in there blindly. Her other option would be to rush in the direction the arrow had come from and maybe catch the other pair off-guard. Sure they had come after her first, but who was to say that the next arrow wouldn't be aiming for Saber.

Another option would be to have Saber abandon the fight and then both of them could get out of here. Intuitively, Orihime knew that Saber would not like that order, the only question was whether he would disagree with her to the point that she would have to use one of her command spells on him?

Just as she was about to open her mouth, Orihime's breath became stuck in her throat as a huge explosion rattled her world. All she managed to do was curl up into a ball and cover her head as best she could before she was showered with debris. While she did sustain a few cuts, bruises and a slight ringing in her ears, Orihime was mostly unhurt. That would not have been the case had she still been standing when the explosion came.

Next thing she knew, a pair of arms slid underneath her body. Automatically, her arms went up to encircle the person's neck and shoulders just before they took off at an inhuman speed. While Orihime did cling to the person carrying her, she only did so in order to maintain her balance in his arms and to keep from slowing him down. Saber would not drop her, of that she was sure.

When they eventually slowed and came to a stop, Saber turned to look behind them in order to make sure they weren't being followed. Then, he set Orihime on her feet.

"Are you all right?" Orihime asked as she re-crossed her arms over her chest, both for modesty and warmth.

"I was about to ask you the same question," replied Saber, "I'm fine."

Giving him a big smile, Orihime said, "Then I'm fine too."

Quirking an eyebrow at her, Saber said flatly, "No you're not."

"Huh?"

In answer to her confusion, Saber untied his outer robe. Before Orihime could protest, he draped it over her shoulders with a scowl firmly in place.

"You're shivering and…um…you know…"

Orihime was extremely glad that there was no moon tonight and that they were no longer illuminated by the burning house. She flushed way too easily sometimes.

"Oh well…thank you…" Orihime tried to keep her voice as steady as possible so as not to give away just how mortified she was, "I didn't have time to grab anything…"

This time her voice trailed off as a thought hit her, "Where is everyone else?"

"Don't know," replied Saber honestly, "but I doubt they're still back there. Urahara and Tessai probably took them to a safe place and are waiting for us to join them. Any ideas?"

"Um," said Orihime slowly as her mind raced, "they might have gone to Mr. Hachi's house."

"Where's that?"

"Um," Orihime said again as she looked up at the stars to try and get her bearings, "Which direction did we come from?"

Looking in the direction Saber indicated, Orihime clapped her hands and said, "We're heading the right way. I'm pretty sure we only have a couple more miles to go."

"That's something at least," replied Saber before he turned to Orihime and said, "The faster we reach there, the better, so I'm going to carry you the rest of the way."

"Ok," Orihime said as calmly as possible, once again grateful for the concealing darkness.

"It may not be dignified," said Saber, "but I can move a lot quicker if you climb on my back. Would that suit you?"

"Of course," said Orihime, "I'm happy to do whatever is easiest for you. I just hope I'm not too heavy for you."

There was a slight pause before Saber said, "I wouldn't have offered if I couldn't do it."

"Right, of course," Orihime said hastily, "Please forgive me."

"No need," replied Saber matter-of-factly. Despite the fact that he was using the exact same tone as he had all along, Orihime felt her heart begin to race in response to his words.

As she carefully molded herself onto his back, Orihime began to second guess the wisdom of travelling in this way. While most girls dreamed of being swept into a man's arms princess style, being carried on someone's back was a far more intimate experience. She tried to force her brain to stop noticing all the places she could feel and all the parts of her Saber was touching. Orihime kept repeating to herself that Saber was only doing this for easy travel, not because he liked her.

In an effort to distract her thoughts, Orihime asked, "Saber?"

"What?"

Clearing her throat, Orihime said as clearly as she could, "Thank you for saving me back there."

Another pause before Saber replied, "Just fulfilling my duty as your Servant. My job is to keep you safe, remember?"

"Yes, of course," said Orihime brightly even though her heart was not in it.

Even though Saber had spoken the truth just then, why was it that her heart had stopped racing and begun to ache slightly?

**Author's Note:**

And finally I finish the long-needed update for this story. Sorry for the long delay, but I had a real hard time with this because I have no idea where I want this story to end up just yet. I usually have a plan for how my stories will end up, but this one I'm just writing one step at a time with no clear goal in sight just yet. However, that will just make it more interesting to see how things pan out as we go along.

Anyway, I am curious to hear any theories on who you think Lancer and Archer are, but more importantly, who their Masters might be. I have also figured out who the other Servants are going to be, plus their Masters, so I'm really interested in seeing what kind of guesses everyone has for the other Holy Grail War participants.

Hope you liked this update and I hope to figure out the next step more quickly this time around, but any suggestions or ideas would be most welcome!

**Author's Note Part 2:**

After reading my first review, I thought I'd clear something up that I guess I didn't explain too well. I couldn't decide whether I wanted to have Orihime wearing a nightdress or pajama pants and a top, so I just decided to leave that up to the reader's to decide. Point being, she is wearing clothes. She's not naked. However, we know what night clothes can be like and with Orihime having to stand outside at night with cold air, heat from a house fire and running across the lawn, she's bound to look a little mussed. Also, I mostly had Lancer saying those comments in order to get a reaction from both Ichigo and Orihime.

So in case you were wondering, that's what was going on.


End file.
